Filming an art exhibition is not like filming an event. The work does not move, the room is quiet, and almost everything that matters comes down to light. We spent three days at The Ultimate Journey, an exhibition at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, covering it for the Layan Cultural Foundation.
The exhibition brought together 36 artists from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Indonesia, Australia, the United Kingdom and beyond, with work honouring the Grand Mosque in Makkah, the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah and Al Aqsa in Jerusalem, in everything from calligraphy to abstract art.
What filming an art exhibition actually demands
Patience and early mornings. Once the doors open you are working around visitors, and you cannot move a single piece to suit yourself. Every usable wide shot of an empty gallery happens before the public arrives or after they have gone.
Glass, reflections and gallery light
Framed work behind glass reflects you, your crew and every light in the room. We shoot off axis, use polarisers and kill our own lights wherever possible. Gallery lighting is designed to show the art properly, so the sensible approach is to work with it rather than fight it.
Interviews with the people behind the work
Short interviews filmed in the space are what turn coverage into a film. An artist standing beside their own piece will explain it better than any voiceover ever could, and it costs five minutes of their time.
Three days, several deliverables
Daily photography and video while the exhibition was running, so the team had something to publish each day, and a short documentary cut from the whole three days once it closed.
“Every usable shot of an empty gallery happens before the doors open.”
Stock Stop
Exhibition and cultural coverage is one of the ways Stock Stop supports clients in London and across the United Kingdom, and in Riyadh and across Saudi Arabia. See our corporate and event video service. Tell us the venue and the dates, and we will come back with a plan.
Tell us what you need and we will come back with a plan.
